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Last year's Observer - Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer:
Chandimal (111) knocks out India
HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 5, 2010 (AFP) - India were shut out of the
Wednesday's Tri-nations final here Saturday when Dinesh Chandimal led
Sri Lanka to victory with just 10 balls to spare.
India needed a win to stay in the tournament, which would have given
them them a slender chance to play in the final on Wednesday.
That would have depended on Zimbabwe then beating Sri Lanka in the
last round robin match on Monday. This game will now have no
significance for the tournament, but will be a guide to form.
India's score of 268-9 was not quite enough. Sri Lanka hit 270 with
10 balls to spare and six wickets in hand.
India now have six days to wait to play two Twenty/20 matches against
Zimbabwe next weekend, which have been added on to the Tri-nations
tournament. With this latest defeat they have dropped to third place
behind Australia and South Africa in the ICC ODI rankings.
Chandimal, named man of the match, punished the Indian bowlers with
111 in 118 balls. It was his maiden century in internationals and he
said afterwards: "I just played my normal game, which is an aggressive
one." He was partnered for the third wicket of 114 by Chamara Kapudegera
in a supporting but important role, scoring 42.
Every one of Sri Lanka's batsmen contributed more than 21.
Tillekeratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka captain, said he was pleased and
relieved not to leave it late getting to the final. "Our plan was to
keep the pressure on India all the way. Our fielding was excellent and
that was a key to our success."
India skipper Suresh Raina thought losing the toss was important to
the result.
"The wicket just got better and better for batting during the day,"
he said.
"We now have a week off and we'll use that to improve all aspects of
our game. There is much work to do."
India brought in three young players into the side - Nuwan Ojha, R.
Ashwin and Pankaj Singh. Their innings got off to a bad start when Ojha
was out for one.
It fell to Dinesh Karthik (68) and Yusuf Pathan (44) in an 84
partnership for the third wicket to set up India for a potentially good
score and in a bid for a 280 runs target, which they nearly reached.
It was Karthik's eighth half century and it got him to his first
1,000 runs in ODI cricket, the fastest Indian to do so.
One very unusual incident was a no-ball bowled Thusara Mirando, which
resulted in a run-out of Ravendra Jadeja.
India's young replacement team for eight senior players not sent here
were a disappointment and there will be a lot of debate in India about
the value or otherwise of taking this decision.
INDIA INNINGS (50 overs)
N. OJHA lbw b Kulasekera 01
D. KARTIK c and b Perera 27
V. KOHLI c Mendis b Mirando 68
Y. PATHAN c Perera b Randiv 44
R. SHARMA b Randiv 32
S. RAINA c Kapudegera b Dilshan 19
R. JADEJA run out (Dilshan) 19
R. ASHWIN c and b Mirando 38
P. SINGH not out 03
A. DINDA c Kapudegera b Mirando 00
P. OJHA not out 05
EXTRAS (3b, 2lb, 1nb, 6w) 12
TOTAL (for 9 wkts) 268
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (Ojha), 2-41 (Karthik), 3-125 (Pathan), 4-174 (Kohli)
5- 187 (Sharma), 6-204 (Raina), 7-255 (Jadeja), 8-259 (Ashwin), 9-259 (Dinda).
BOWLING: Nuwan Kulasekera 9-1-47-1, Thusara Mirando 9-1-57-3, (4w, 1nb),
Ajantha Mendis (10-0-54-0), Thisara Perera 4-0-33-1 (1w), Jeevan Mendis
6-0-29-0 (1w), Suraj Randiv 10-1-38-2, Tillekeratne Dilshan (2-0-5-1)
SRI LANKA INNINGS (48.2 overs)
U. THARANGA c Kohli b R. Ashwin 27
T. DILSHAN c Pathan b Dinda 21
D. CHANDIMAL st. Ojha b Ashwin 111
C. KAPUGEDERA c Singh b Ojha 42
J. MENDIS not out 35
T. SAMARAWEERA not out 28
EXTRAS (4lb, 1w, 1nb) 06
TOTAL (for 4 wkts) 270
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-29 (Dilshan), 2-81 (Tharanga), 3-195 (Kapudegera),
4-215 (Chandimal).
DID NOT BAT: T. Perera, N. Kalusekera, S. Randiv, A. Mendis, T. Mirando
BOWLING: Ashok Dinda 7.2-2-42-1, R. Ashwin 10-0-50-2, Pankaj Singh
7-0-45-0, Ravindra Jadeja 10-0-54-0, Pragyan Ojha 10-0-43-1, Yusuf
Pathan 4-0-32-0
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen (RSA) and Russell Tiffin (ZIM).
Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZL) |
